The power dissipation of integrated circuit chips, and the modules containing the chips, continues to increase in order to achieve increases in processor performance. This trend poses cooling challenges at both the rack and data center levels. Increased airflow rates are needed to effectively cool higher power components and to control the temperature of egressing air exhausted into the computer center.
In many large server applications, processors along with their associated electronics (e.g., memory, disk drives, power supplies, etc.) are packaged in removable drawer configurations stacked within a rack or frame. In other cases, the electronics may be in fixed locations within the rack or frame. Typically, the components are cooled by air moving in airflow paths, usually front-to-back, impelled by one or more air moving devices (e.g., axial or centrifugal fans). In some cases it may be possible to handle increased power dissipation within a single drawer or subsystem by providing greater airflow, through the use of a more powerful air moving device(s) or by increasing the rotational speed (i.e., RPMs) of an existing air moving device. However, this approach may be problematic at the rack or data center level.